Brown Pelican

ocean birds · diving · fish hunters · coastal

Dives for dinner. Brown pelicans are expert divers that plunge headfirst into the water to scoop up fish in their enormous pouch. They're one of only two pelican species in the Americas that hunt this way.

Colorful breeding look. During breeding season, brown pelicans put on fancy colors with white heads, dark maroon-brown necks, and yellow patches on their chests. When breeding season ends, they lose those showy colors and turn plain white and gray.

Spread across two coasts. You can find brown pelicans all along the Atlantic Coast from New Jersey down to the Amazon River, and on the Pacific side from British Columbia all the way to Peru. They even live on the Galapagos Islands.

Pink eye rings fade. Brown pelicans have bright pink skin around their eyes when they're in breeding season, but it turns dull gray when they're not breeding. It's like their eyes put on and take off makeup.

Females are smaller. Male and female brown pelicans look almost identical, but females are noticeably smaller than the males.